Enemy N°1 of men's skin: a progressive testosterone deficiency


Testosterone, a determining factor in men's skin

The skin is a hormonodependent organ. That means that its characteristics change according to the level of hormones it can use. In men, the hormone is testosterone - the masculine hormone par excellence. Testosterone is responsible for the masculine characteristics of the individual:
• Physical characteristics: development of the sexual organs, the muscles, the general morphology; the deep voice; the specifically masculine characteristics of the skin (more skin hair, thicker skin, more oily and more elastic than women's skin).
• Psychological characteristics: libido, aggressiveness…

¹ Read, in particular: "Dermocosmétologie de l'homme" (Dermo-cosmetology for men), Dr Annie Cohen-Letessier and Dr Catherine Bombal, Encyclopédie Médicale Chir. Elsevier (2002).

A complex metabolism

Produced by the testicles (90%) and the suprarenals (10%), testosterone circulates in the organism in two forms:
• 40% in bioavailable form (2% free, 38% with a weak albumin link), that is to say available for use by the organism, particularly by the skin,
• 60% in a form linked to a protein, SHBG (Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin) which transports it to sites where it is converted into dihydro-testosterone (DHT) under the effect of the enzyme 5-alpha reductase. During growth, this DHT is essential: it is in particular what allows the development of the genital organs. In adults, it can lead to the acceleration of the lifecycle of hair, which can cause premature balding (androgenic alopecia) very common in men. DHT can also deteriorate under the effect of another enzyme: aromatase. It is thought that this enzyme directly deteriorates the bioavailable testosterone without passing through the DHT stage.

A progressive deficiency which starts at around 30

The production of testosterone by the male organism decreases regularly with age (-2% per year from the age of 30-40). At the same time, the production of SHBG increases, and this accelerates the progressive deficiency of bioavailable testosterone and has a strong impact on the skin. Even before the age of 40, the male skin begins to dry up, to lose its density and tonicity. The microcirculation of the skin is altered. The protective hydrolipidic film disappears. The skin becomes loose, more sensitive, is vulnerable to external aggressions and takes on a greyish colour. Wrinkles form and deepen.

An intuition founded on the female example

For decades, we have known that the ageing of women's skin around the menopause is linked to a hormonal deficiency in oestrogen. And for twenty years, we have known how to fight against this ageing with cosmetics based on phyto-oestrogens or using hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
Basing his research on this example, Didier Rase had the intuition that it should be possible to act on male skin using cosmetics adapted for the metabolism of testosterone. Four years of research have enabled us to confirm this intuition and led to the discovery of THE natural molecule that acts specifically on men's skin: Phyto-androzyme®